NFL 2023 Changes

[DCarp1231]

3 minutes ago, tBBP said:

 

That would essentially be what they used to have. (And I think the technical term for that is "shoulder yoke".) It's not the sword-point-shaped yoke I have an issue with—in fact that's the one element of their current set I actually do like, and its probably the one signature element of their visual identity...it's something they can build around.

 

Everything else about that set is doing too much...all of it can go. Navy shell, numbers, sword sheath pants...whatevers, the double-gray especially...all of it can go. All of it.

It’s almost like they have a perfectly usable bright red at their disposal and actively choose to ignore it.

 

The AFC South is objectively the most boring and bland division. Too much blue and abundance of dark colors.

 

Houston- for the love of all things holy if the Titans won’t use red more prominently make it yours 

 

Tennessee- silver helmets and pants. Emphasize double blue. Get as close to the Oilers of yesteryear without blatantly being the Oilers

 

Jacksonville- the color teal is RIGHT THERE. Oh, and for :censored:s sake USE GOLD.

 

Colts- Literally don’t change anything. Okay, maybe blue pants in regular rotation.

[SCL]

On 7/24/2023 at 11:53 AM, bowld said:

Jets NEED to bring this helmet back full time or at least slap this decal on the current ones. Just look at how much better it looks than the current generic font does

 

I like the current font with football, just need to add the exhaust  and Jet above.

[BBTV]

Maybe just a NY with the jet on top.

 

I thought that even with the Testaverde-era set, the over NY could have stood alone on the helmet.  Put the full wordmark under the collar or something (just not the sleeve!)

[FSUViking]

8 hours ago, throwuascenario said:

The Seahawks, absolutely. It's a completely different brand and color scheme. It's completely off-brand and looks like a different team. The only reason the Jets and Vikings aren't quite as bad is because their current uniforms really aren't all that different from the throwbacks. But in that case, why even bother? It's like an uncanny valley situation.

 

For the record, I like all three teams' throwbacks better than their currents. If they chose them to use full-time, I'd be happy about it. I just don't like off-brand alternates. Pick a brand and stick to it.

 

Unless you're 20 years old, you've SEEN those Seahawks uniforms in your lifetime. Like, WTF....

[RyanMcD29]

I know the Bills potentially doing a 90s throwback been talked about but haven't seen anything since I was away last week, but while at the Bills team store last week I did see this

 

[ltjets21]

4 hours ago, DCarp1231 said:

Sans helmet, I do really like the Colts new jersey. It has a good place amongst alternates. I hope it sticks around for a while.

Every part of me wants to hate the Colts alt but for some reason I love them. I also love the Lions lanky lion helmets but they look awful with the charcoal uni.

[Echo]

4 minutes ago, RyanMcD29 said:

I know the Bills potentially doing a 90s throwback been talked about but haven't seen anything since I was away last week, but while at the Bills team store last week I did see this

 

 

They've always had those red helmets for sale.  Unfortunately that doesn't mean they're doing a throwback helmet this year.

[aawagner011]

4 hours ago, DCarp1231 said:

So why exactly are the Titans dropping the normal Columbia Blue jersey? Are they afraid a completely different style jersey with no trace of red would look too similar to the throwback?

 

Also, this is Year 6 of the current set with no signs of changing.

It may have to do with their attempt to wear the throwbacks three times. Their article stated “The Titans will wear the uniforms in two games this fall, both at home. The organization inquired about wearing them for a road game in Miami as well, but it doesn't appear that will come to fruition.”  
 

Perhaps they aren’t totally eliminating it from their set but just means they won’t wear the regular light blue this year. Maybe they are trying to find a third game to wear them in or already stated their intentions to the NFL, which would prohibit them from wearing another alt since you can only wear alts 3 times all season.

[IceCap]

4 hours ago, DCarp1231 said:

 

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things doesn't belong!

[DCarp1231]

19 minutes ago, IceCap said:

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things doesn't belong!

[GriffinM6]

1 hour ago, IceCap said:

One of these things is not like the other, one of these things doesn't belong!

You're right! The Jets jersey is the only one that's white!

[FiddySicks]

11 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Has anyone coined WFWS yet? Because I feel like we're in the WFWS era.

Gonna have to go to a totally different kinda forum for that one, bud. 

[throwuascenario]

4 hours ago, FSUViking said:

 

Unless you're 20 years old, you've SEEN those Seahawks uniforms in your lifetime. Like, WTF....

 

First of all, a lot of people that watch football are in their 20's. Second of all, I've seen the uniforms. That doesn't mean it fits their current brand. They currently wear navy and neon green. When I turn on a Seahawks game, I'm expecting to see navy and neon green. Them not wearing that makes them not look like the Seahawks.

 

If they ever change back to blue/silver full-time, that would change.

 

BTW, whoever called my last post a troll-post, I don't feel like digging back through to quote you but THANK YOU for your valuable input. Seriously, you exploded my mind. What would I have ever done without that? What a valuable contribution. I had never thought of it that way before. What a new way of thinking. Such an original thought. Your existence now has meaning.

[PlayGloria]

6 hours ago, throwuascenario said:

 

First of all, a lot of people that watch football are in their 20's. Second of all, I've seen the uniforms. That doesn't mean it fits their current brand. They currently wear navy and neon green. When I turn on a Seahawks game, I'm expecting to see navy and neon green. Them not wearing that makes them not look like the Seahawks.

 

If they ever change back to blue/silver full-time, that would change.

 

BTW, whoever called my last post a troll-post, I don't feel like digging back through to quote you but THANK YOU for your valuable input. Seriously, you exploded my mind. What would I have ever done without that? What a valuable contribution. I had never thought of it that way before. What a new way of thinking. Such an original thought. Your existence now has meaning.

 

I think you are correct in the fact that navy and neon have become their identity, but I don't think that means that they are tied to it for eternity. Maybe it is just my brain, but anything with a neon color like that just makes me think of a Monster energy drink. That branding might work if you are trying to get your drink to stand out in a cooler against other cans, but on the football field it has always just felt like a gimmick to me. I also don't think that the set as a whole has improved. The early 2000s era uniforms were pretty clean. Now the Seahawks, like many teams, have mixed and matched all of these elements into Frankenstein sets every week. Plus this newer set that they moved to in 2012 has so many little details that they have almost aged like the Bucs alarm clock uniforms in my mind. It's just too busy, especially for a color scheme that is already "in your face" with the neon green. The shoulder yokes are a mess, the pattern in the numbers is overkill. The pants stripe might be okay if those elements weren't there. I have also never loved the way the Seahawk logo gets lost on the helmet in the navy. I prefer the silver helmet because the logo pops a bit more. 

 

All in all, I think you are correct that the color scheme is their current identity, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't think it is a very good uniform. 

[gosioux76]

7 hours ago, throwuascenario said:

 

First of all, a lot of people that watch football are in their 20's. Second of all, I've seen the uniforms. That doesn't mean it fits their current brand. They currently wear navy and neon green. When I turn on a Seahawks game, I'm expecting to see navy and neon green. Them not wearing that makes them not look like the Seahawks.

 

This is a strange hill on which to plant your flag. 

 

It's not as if the royal/green of the 80s and 90s is such a vast departure from navy/neon green that you can't see the evolution from one to the other. This isn't like, say, the Broncos wearing their original brown and yellow uniforms, or the Eagles wearing powder blue/yellow throwbacks like they did once upon a time. 

 

Cut it down to its roots and you essentially have a team that's always been blue/green. Seeing them play in different shades of those colors won't lead anybody to believe that they aren't still the Seahawks.  (The giant wraparound hawk on the helmets might also give people a hint.)

 

It's OK to prefer the current look to the old one, but this point just doesn't make sense. Also, a team's brand shouldn't exist in a single place in time. These are organizations that carry their histories with them, and suggesting the throwback look doesn't fit the current brand is just false. 

 

Personally, I just feel like the league has become too drab and these throwbacks highlight that point. I'd love to see the Seahawks return to a more vibrant blue. It's also why I will always love the Bucs' Creamsicles and the Oilers uniforms. 

 

Looking back, you can pretty much map out a 25-year timeline of teams ditching bright colors for darker ones, starting with the Chargers in late '80s gradually shifting to darker and darker shades of blue before letting Navy take over. The Broncos, Patriots and Buccaneers soon followed, joined with three expansion franchises (The Panthers, despite incorporating a touch of brightness, still leaned into the black and silver.) and later with the Seahawks shifting to darker blues with both of their uniform redesigns.  

 

The transition of the L.A. franchises back to brighter colors seems like an indication that the trend may be shifting. I hope this new batch of throwbacks convinces some current franchises to follow suit. 

[CaptainEricVGC]

8 hours ago, throwuascenario said:

 

First of all, a lot of people that watch football are in their 20's. Second of all, I've seen the uniforms. That doesn't mean it fits their current brand. They currently wear navy and neon green. When I turn on a Seahawks game, I'm expecting to see navy and neon green. Them not wearing that makes them not look like the Seahawks.

It's definitely part of the era you grow up in. I started watching football in 1995 when I was 5 and became a Buccaneers fan in 1997 so the Creamsicles are not the Buccaneers to me. The Skull and Sabers are. I have memory of the Seahawks in royal blue and green, but when I was actually old enough to watch attentively they've always been navy and some kind of neon green. I think Chris had an article pitching the Eagles in Kelly Green saying the Eagles need to look like the Eagles again but to me Midnight Green IS what the Eagles look like.

This is kind of the tricky part with throwbacks when the uniforms are adjacent but not similar to the current set because a team is trying to marry 2-3 generations of fans together. I don't think any NFL team has it as bad as the NBA does where you cannot tell who is playing who on some days without the scorebug or half-court logo assisting but I can understand someone saying a look is out of place from what a team mentally looks like to them.

[Carolingian Steamroller]

1 hour ago, gosioux76 said:

 

This is a strange hill on which to plant your flag. 

 

It's not as if the royal/green of the 80s and 90s is such a vast departure from navy/neon green that you can't see the evolution from one to the other. This isn't like, say, the Broncos wearing their original brown and yellow uniforms, or the Eagles wearing powder blue/yellow throwbacks like they did once upon a time. 

 

Cut it down to its roots and you essentially have a team that's always been blue/green. Seeing them play in different shades of those colors won't lead anybody to believe that they aren't still the Seahawks.  (The giant wraparound hawk on the helmets might also give people a hint.)

 

It's OK to prefer the current look to the old one, but this point just doesn't make sense. Also, a team's brand shouldn't exist in a single place in time. These are organizations that carry their histories with them, and suggesting the throwback look doesn't fit the current brand is just false. 

 

Personally, I just feel like the league has become too drab and these throwbacks highlight that point. I'd love to see the Seahawks return to a more vibrant blue. It's also why I will always love the Bucs' Creamsicles and the Oilers uniforms. 

 

Looking back, you can pretty much map out a 25-year timeline of teams ditching bright colors for darker ones, starting with the Chargers in late '80s gradually shifting to darker and darker shades of blue before letting Navy take over. The Broncos, Patriots and Buccaneers soon followed, joined with three expansion franchises (The Panthers, despite incorporating a touch of brightness, still leaned into the black and silver.) and later with the Seahawks shifting to darker blues with both of their uniform redesigns.  

 

The transition of the L.A. franchises back to brighter colors seems like an indication that the trend may be shifting. I hope this new batch of throwbacks convinces some current franchises to follow suit. 

I think this is a good general breakdown. To put a finer point on it, we have multiple teams right now that use throwbacks from the 1930's that no person alive has memory of. The Patriots use a red jersey, white helmet throwback with a logo that hasn't been the primary look for 30 years.

To get back to my 1994 analogy, part of the throwback gimmick has always been seeing uniforms from well before your time. At least five teams that year had uniforms that were at least 50 years old. 

I don't think the Seahawks are concerned about fans not connecting the throwbacks with the brand. It's part of the deal when you put out a throwback.

[DCarp1231]

In 15-20 years we’re gonna be getting Bengals, Cardinals, Patriots and Vikings Reebok throwbacks

[The Impaler]

I think the Broncos helmet is pretty sharp on it's own and I don't mind it for a one off or alternate.  My fear is they are gauging how fans feel about a white lid, and if my facebook feeds are accurate everybody thinks it's "sick".  UGH.  Massive fail if the Broncos go to a white lid.

[MJWalker45]

3 hours ago, DCarp1231 said:

In 15-20 years we’re gonna be getting Bengals, Cardinals, Patriots and Vikings Reebok throwbacks

Only way that happens is if Reebok gets the contract.

3 hours ago, The Impaler said:

I think the Broncos helmet is pretty sharp on it's own and I don't mind it for a one off or alternate.  My fear is they are gauging how fans feel about a white lid, and if my facebook feeds are accurate everybody thinks it's "sick".  UGH.  Massive fail if the Broncos go to a white lid.

If the NFL comes out and says that teams can swap out the helmets across all sets, it could be a great addition. For now though, it's just a mismatched helmet with an alternate set.